Onnen Ryokan/Haunted Inn, Namja Town, Japan

South and East Asian horror is a brand all of its own, uniquely disturbing to lovers of thrills and frights. It is perhaps no surprise, then, to learn that their particular brand of terror is well-represented in the tradition of obake yashiki or “ghost house”; scare attractions to celebrate the Bon season - the Japanese time of spirits and ghosts - as a way to escape the summer heat and join in the festivities.

What may be more surprising is that the exposure to these attractions is not, at all, limited to those of us who are older or who pretend to be “all grown up”. Sunshine City – a large building complex in Ikebukuro, Tokyo – is home to an observation tower, a colossal mall, and a whole host of entertainment attractions, including the Namco Namja Town.

Operated by the famous game producers, this year-round indoor park – packed with carnival-style features and games – is independent of their digital characters and targeted towards young children – some toddlers and elementarily schoolers, particularly the junior years. It plays host to the Onnen Ryokan; the Haunted Inn or Grudge Inn. It was with some surprise and curiosity that this visitor approached the attraction.

Approach to the Haunted Inn is either almost directly from Namja Town's entrance or, more entertainingly, through a longer scarily-themed corridor, quite separate to the obake yashiki but part of a larger spook-friendly section of the park. All creepy trees, red-eyed crows and gravestones, it's a novel stroll through something to the archetypal scary forest. The Inn itself has the facade of a traditional Japanese inn, unremarkable if not for the dim exterior lighting and a strange horde of masked crabs lines up outside... oh yes, a bizarre Oni-like head mounted to crabs legs, the reason for which I was never fully clear but would become integral to the walk through the ghostly tavern.

Upon entrance, it is explained to us that this sinister crustacean will be our partner and guide and will act as a camera as we enter the inn to attempt to photograph the ghosts that are said to dwell within. We enter a small private chamber for our introductory video; the trigger for which (and later for photographs) is placing said crab on the special pads designed to sense our companion. It should be noted that 2 chambers are active on a rotation, allowing a control of flow into the inn. We then progress through, after having a photo of ourselves taken, and are treated to standard horror effects from air cannons, bangs, and various jump scares from props and scenery before we reach another screen that shows us our previous photograph – complete with ghostly figures and effects added to the image.

This formula repeats itself through our walkthrough, with the intensity of the scares slowly increasing as we go along and the model arms holding the cameras that take our photos looking steadily more decayed and gruesome. The superimposed effects on our photos are very tame but the practical effects in the attraction are, against this visitor's expectations, quite intense at times. The set is quite well dressed – though with no ceiling – and dressing is a suitably heightened pastiche of traditional Japanese interiors. From the ever-insidious collections of dolls, demon-like monsters and even skeletal samurai, it's curious that this is an attraction targeted towards young children, the CBBC crowd, and seems to be relatively popular and it tells a story of the subtle difference in the norms of Western and Asian culture.Highlights were a shrine room – with the aforementioned skeletal samurai – that included a well-executed distraction scare using a two-way mirror, the use of vibration plates combined with appropriate sound scares, and the use of a decaying, malformed corpse (remember the target bracket, here) swinging down from the ceiling.

The set is in good condition with no noticeable wear-and-tear (perhaps helped by this being an attraction without a live cast and populated with very small groups only) but improvements could arguably be made to the realism of the attraction, but this is likely to alienate the target audience. With little variation during the walkthrough, some changes to the pacing or types of scares used would certainly be good for the Inn, but it is an effective and appreciated introduction to scare attractions to a younger crowd, and a nice textbook in basic scares for the fright enthusiast.

Admission to Namja Town itself is 500JPY, and the Haunted Inn 600JPY, but the park offers a 'passport' that gives unlimited access to its attractions for 3000JPY (2400 for the under 13s) and the attraction lasts around 5 minutes. It may not cry out to be visited by fans of frights but for any visitors with kids, it's a sterling chance to bring them into the world of horror in a way that is still likely to be fun for them. Along with the many other attractions and games in the park, the Haunted Inn and Namja Town would be a pleasant visit for families of young children who want to enjoy what Ikebukuro has to offer.